The 2012 Paros beating and rape of a teenage girl on the island of Paros, Greece, by a Pakistani illegal immigrant named Ahmed Waqas attracted widespread attention. Injuries to the victim, usually referred to in the Greek press solely by her first name "Myrto", resulted in permanent disability.
The event
On 23 July 2012 a teenage girl, Myrto Papadomichelaki, was found half naked, beaten and in a coma, on one of the most popular beaches in the Greek island, Paros. Her head had been bashed in with a rock weighing 5 kg. The authorities ordered the girl to be transferred to a hospital in Athens so that she would have the best of care and started looking for evidence in the crime scene in order to find the assaulter. At first, police investigated the incident as an accident. However, when the forensic specialist from Athens, Dr. Nikos Kalogrias announced that he had found semen over the girl's body, the focus of the investigation changed to rape and near-fatal beating.
Suspects
According to the police report, initially the suspects were 12 men, Greeks and foreigners, who either worked by the beach and the crime scene or had been seen by witnesses in the area. As the investigation continued, the suspects were narrowed to four and police concluded, with the help of several eyewitnesses, that the suspect was a man who worked by the crime scene. Specifically the mother of the teenage girl reported that she saw a man, wearing white trousers and a colorful shirt, walking away from the crime scene. Ahmed Waqas's co-workers said that he was wearing this kind of clothes at work the day of the incident. However, Ahmed had already left the island to go to Athens, ostensibly because of the serious illness of one of his relatives. Ahmed was picked up during a random check in Athens and DNA was used to identify him as the likely culprit. Ahmed had told his Paros employers that he had to leave the island to visit an ailing family member.
Perpetrator
A few days later the police arrested Ahmed Waqas, in Nea Chalkidona, Athens, along with two other suspects. Police located suspect through his mobile phone and with the help of other immigrants. Police compared DNA obtained from Ahmed's saliva with DNA that found on the girl's clothes and body and confirmed a match, after which Ahmed confessed his crime. Ahmed Waqas was reportedly calm and emotionless while describing the events of the crime to the police officers. As he stated, his first intention was to steal the girl's mobile phone but she tried to repel his attack. Then, he started beating her with a rock until she fell unconscious. While the girl could not fight anymore he raped her and then beat her again against the stones. The perpetrator had been scheduled for voluntary repatriation to Pakistan at the time of the arrest. After his confession, Ahmed Waqas was taken to the island of Syros where he testified again before the district prosecutor. While the police accompanied him from the ferry to the prosecutor's office, passersby shouted slogans against him. After the initial trial, the perpetrator was discovered to have lied about his age in order to be tried and punished as a juvenile.
Trial
The defendant initially convinced authorities that he was a minor so that he could be adjudicated by a juvenile court. He first reported that he was born in 1991, then in 1993 and finally he stated that he was born in 1995. His inconsistency made the investigator ask the prosecutor to add those false statements to the prosecution. However Ahmed did not change his attitude and continued lying, as a result, the court's initial judgement was for him to be held in prison for two years. The trial was a national news story in Greece. The perpetrator was sentenced to "a life sentence for the robbery, 18 years in jail for the attempted homicide, 18 years in jail for the rape and three months in jail for illegal employment".
Victim
Tens of thousands of dollars were raised by the Greek public to pay for the victim's medical care., the teenage girl was out of the coma and was working to regain her strength and abilities in a rehabilitation center. Three years after the attack, she remained unable to walk or to feed herself. Andreas Lykourentzos, Greek Minister for Health, announced in May 2013 that the victim would be transferred to a hospital in the United States to undergo advanced treatment at the expense of the Greek government. A decision continued by Greek Minister for Health, Adonis Georgiadis. Nevertheless, private funds were required and the money was raised by the Greek-American community in the United States to fund Myrto Papadomichelaki's treatment at Harvard's Children's and SpauldingHospitals in Boston. In December 2017, the victim's mother sued the Greek state as the €730 monthly allowance she was receiving was not enough for medical bills. The compensation could not be taken from the perpetrator due to a lack of a bilateral agreement with his country.
